


Flying terror

by bunnysworld



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chance Meetings, Eventual Romance, Flight Attendants, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 02:29:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14945900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld
Summary: No matter what Merlin does to help, the kid in row 4 can't be calmed down.





	Flying terror

**Author's Note:**

> Just something that came to my mind right now after reading an article. Yeah, weird where inspiration comes from sometimes.

The fake smile slid off of Gwaine’s face when the last passenger had left the cabin. 

“Finally,” he whispered. 

Merlin, who was just as tired, huffed. “Just another hour and we can sleep.”

“I hope it doesn’t take that long. Which hotel did they book us into?” Gwaine started to gather his things. 

Shaking his head, Merlin shrugged. “I forgot. I’m so tired that I forgot.” He went through the rows, checking for things they would have to turn in at the lost and found. “Fuck.”

This was actually a word strictly forbidden on the aeroplane while they were working. But when he saw the turquoise dragon plushie in row 4, he closed his eyes. The owner of said plushie had made this flight so exhausting. A little boy, probably four had been kicking and screaming almost all the way from London to Chicago and couldn’t be calmed down, no matter what his father or any of the flight attendants did. 

Merlin knew that flying wasn’t too pleasurable for children. The new sounds, the change in pressure, having to sit still for so many hours weren’t things that kids dealt with easily. This one, though, had been especially cranky. His father, all blond and so much Merlin’s type that it almost hurt to be around him, had done everything from talking softly to trying to persuade, to blackmailing, but nothing had helped. He was grateful for the crayons and colouring book Merlin brought the boy and for every story that Gwaine and Merlin could come up with, as it held the boy’s attention for at least a few minutes. 

It wasn’t only the boy that was exhausting. The other passengers started to get restless after a while, too and Merlin totally understood. If you coughed up that much money to be in business class on the red eye flight to Chicago, you usually wanted to work for a while and then get some sleep. They had handed out earplugs and sleep masks, but that hadn’t helped much and it had become more and more difficult to keep the smile on his face. Especially since the situation didn’t allow neither Gwaine nor him to get some sleep on this flight. 

“What is it?” Gwaine had checked the galley and had gone through their routine as always. 

Merlin held up the plush toy. “Let me through, with a bit of luck, I’ll catch them at the end of the tunnel.”

Merlin sprinted out of the plane and spotted the man and the boy a bit further ahead and waved the toy. “Sir!”

After a few calls, the man, who had hoisted the boy up on his arm and dragged the carry-on along, looked around. 

“Sir, he forgot this!” Merlin finally reached them and almost chuckled when he noticed that the boy was sleeping peacefully with his head on the man’s shoulder. 

“Oh!...OH! That would have turned into the next disaster. He can’t sleep without this one.” Then he made a face. “Not that he could sleep with it on the plane…Hey, thank you so much and I sincerely apologize for Mordred’s behaviour. He usually likes flying. Takes him a few minutes to fall asleep, that’s why I chose the red eye. But I’m taking him to his mother and he hadn’t had a nap in the afternoon and…and you don’t care about all of this, I know.” The man smiled tiredly. “You must be just as exhausted. Again, thank you so much for everything you did on the flight and please pass my apologies on to your co-workers. You all were wonderful.”

Merlin smiled widely. Yes, he was tired, but at least this man appreciated their efforts and didn’t just treat them as flying waitresses. “It’s been our pleasure to have you on board today,” he said politely.

The man laughed. “I pretty much doubt that.” He readjusted the boy in his arm. “I should get this one into a real bed, he’s starting to get heavy.”

“Of course. I hope you have a nice stay here in Chicago.”

The blond nodded, rearranged his things, made sure that the dragon was safely tucked away and continued on his way. 

Merlin stood there until he was out of sight. Aside from the boy being an absolute nightmare, the man had been really nice. He sighed. If only he could meet someone like him one day. He was just what Merlin had always dreamed of. Blond, blue eyes, tall, built, not too much, though, kind to children…and taken. Not that this was part of his dream, it just was the harsh reality. All the good ones were taken. 

Tiredly, he made his way back to the plane to gather his personal belongings and left with his crew. 

 

Luckily, immigration and customs hadn’t taken too long and they didn’t get stuck in any traffic jams on the way to the hotel either, so Merlin had been in bed as quickly as possible. His eyes had fallen shut the moment his head had hit the pillow and when his alarm went off, it felt as if he hadn’t slept but fallen into an exhaustion coma. 

As he stood at the buffet and tried to decide what to have for breakfast at an hour that wasn’t breakfast time at all, someone stepped up to him. 

“Hi.”

Merlin turned his head and was faced with the blond man from the day before. Just that he was in fresh clothes, his hair wasn’t all over the place and he had shaved the stubble off. Merlin hoped he looked less worn than the day before, too. “Hello!”

“I hope you’ve forgiven me for yesterday.”

Merlin smiled widely as he shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. It is what it is. Did…Marvin? get some sleep after his adventures on our flight?”

The blond rolled his eyes. “Mordred. He slept like a log after terrorizing all of us.”

Chuckling, Merlin reached for a hard-boiled egg. “Must be exhausting.”

“I’m just happy that he’s back with his mother now and I can enjoy the flight back in silence.” The man grinned. 

Merlin looked at him. “Can’t be easy to leave your son here and go back to a different continent.”

“Son? Oh no, Mordred’s my nephew. His mother’s business thing takes longer than she expected, so she asked me to bring him to her. I’m rather relieved that my babysitting job is over for now. He’s a great boy, but that stunt he pulled on all of us last night…”

Chuckling, Merlin nodded. “They are cute and then it’s time to return them to their rightful owners, eh?”

The man laughed. “Exactly.” He spooned lots of fruit onto his plate. “So, are you free to enjoy your day here in Chicago or do you have to go to work again?”

Merlin smiled apologetically. “Back on the plane in a few hours.”

“Are you going back to London?” The man looked at the different yoghurts on display. 

“Yes, the 5:10 flight to Heathrow is ours.”

A wide smile appeared on the bloke’s face. “That’s good!” He looked around. “There’s an empty table…would you…I mean I don’t want to leave the wrong impression, but it’s nice talking to you, so…”

Merlin nodded and steered towards the indicated table. 

Breakfast took him much longer than intended. Talking to Arthur he had forgotten the time and was almost late for the pick-up, still arranging his tie and name tag when he hopped into the van where Gwaine and the others were waiting for him. 

“So, how was your night?” Gwaine grinned.

“Slept like a rock.”

“Oh? No further action with a certain blond?”

Merlin blinked. “If you mean breakfast, I met Arthur at the buffet or rather he met me and we started to talk.”

“And then you had breakfast together?”

“Well…kind of.” Merlin felt the heat rising in to his cheeks. 

“Will you see him again?” Gwaine made all kinds of suggestive faces. 

Nodding, Merlin made a dismissive gesture when Gwaine wolf-whistled. “He’ll be on our flight back again, so we all will see him again.”

Gwaine paled. “Oh God, including the little flying terror?”

“No, ‘the terror’ is his nephew and he brought him to his sister, the boy’s mother and now he will be on his way back to London. On his own.”

Grinning widely, Gwaine announced for everybody to hear, “The blond God without the terror is Merlin’s passenger today. We will do everything we can to make time for him to talk to _his_ passenger a lot. And if things work out, we’ll all be invited to the wedding.”

Merlin laughed with the others, even though he kicked at Gwaine’s shin playfully. He wouldn’t have gone as far as already dreaming of a wedding, but things had started quite good this morning. If he were lucky, he would have given a gorgeous man his number at the end of this flight and he’d probably get a phone call soon. 

The smile on his face, when he greeted the passengers during boarding, wasn’t a practiced fake one for once.


End file.
